


Caged

by Paresse



Series: We Don't Have To Be What You Want [1]
Category: Karakuridouji Ultimo
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 00:47:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14124510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paresse/pseuds/Paresse
Summary: There’s always been a rift between Rage and the slothful doji. For whatever reason, Paresse has always found himself on the other’s wrong side. Not that he minded. The doji wrath set something off in his own throat. An anger that he couldn’t describe making hot bile sit at the back of his throat. Made something like jealousy sting through his systems like poison.||This is the beginning of a series of one-shots and short stories on KDU. There's a forward for the whole series within, as well as the first one-shot of the series, Caged.





	Caged

## Forward:

Hi! This entire series of one-shots and short stories is entirely self-indulgent and 100% completely unconnected. This will mostly be Paresse- and Rage-centric because I feel closest to both of them throughout the entire series, despite their lack of characterization and background. I 100% accept criticisms on these stories, but please keep it to technical writing advice, I don’t particularly care if you don’t like the pairing/trope/genre of whichever short-story you’re criticizing as, again, this whole series is self-indulgent and I’m just writing what I want. I cannot and will not promise sequels/more chapters of any of these individual stories, I’ve always sucked at finishing or continuing things (LMAO look at the rest of my shit, I haven’t even continued Steel of the Bull yet and that’s one of my favorite stories).

Some of these will be just scenes that I have inspiration for and write randomly w/o context, some will be just straight up porn of varying degrees. A few may be writing challenges I set for myself or take from elsewhere.

 

## Caged (Alternative name: It Won’t Last)

**Challenge** : Listen to a song on repeat while you write a short story or draw

**Song** : ‘Ever’ by GroundBreaking

**Character** : Paresse, heavy mentions of Rage, light mention of Mizho and Fussa

**AU** : Canon divergent

**Rating** : General

 

There’s always been a rift between Rage and the slothful doji. For whatever reason, Paresse has always found himself on the other’s wrong side. Not that he minded. The doji wrath set something off in his own throat. An anger that he couldn’t describe making hot bile sit at the back of his throat. Made something like jealousy sting through his systems like poison.

He never did anything about it, though. And not because that he didn’t want to. He just. Couldn’t. Dunstan had put him under lock and key with the slothful title, keeping a cage around his ability. It wasn’t true slothfulness, at least, it didn’t feel that way. Just an artificial version of Chronic Fatigue. But, when computers had been invented, Paresse was right on top of them. It was something he could do without moving very much. It was perfect for him. And when the internet came along, well, it felt like the world had handed him everything he ever needed on a silver platter with his name engraved on it. It was how he found Mizho, scouring data streams and IP addresses to track her down, find the easiest way to her. It was how he found the others. It was how he found out about Rage.

In the 21st century, Rage had become a famous metal singer, his master and producer taking advantage of him to send his ratings into the roof. But Rage seemed to enjoy it. Rage was always dangling it over him, too. And not just now, but every life, how he always managed to be so much more successful than Paresse. It infuriated him. Up until this century, he’d never been able to do anything except tremble in fury as he glared at the smug scowl as Rage looked down his nose at him. But now, when he heard Rage talk about it, a sneer curled across the slothful’s face behind his mask, lighting up as a cheshire grin on the dark green surface. And Rage’s stone cold expression had faltered for the first time. And he wore it the whole meeting through.

Paresse had always had an appreciation for music, often losing himself in it the moment headphones had come around, hell, some even before then--much to his various masters’ chagrin. And it was easy to find resources online. Things he easily pirated and adjusted in the codes to fit his needs. Even caged with the fatigue Dunstan had forced on him, Paresse could create music of his own at his fingertips. He didn’t need any producing company. Just a few hours in front of a screen. He didn’t even have to sing, just make sounds that he liked through the computer’s synthesizing.

And he got listeners. Fans. He was a robot, he knew what people wanted to hear, if only through algorithms and pattern-recognition. But after a while, the idea of this as revenge on Rage fell to the back burner. But even so, his actions didn’t fall under the wrathful’s radar. It got under the other’s skin, and bad. The blue-themed doji knew it shouldn’t affect him. It didn’t! Hell, they were two different genres and audiences. But the sheer amount of repeats on the tracks seared through Rage’s systems like fire. He wrote a song out of spite, didn’t even try to be vague about it, either. But it made him feel marginally better.

Mizho listened to both dojis’ music, and when she heard the song Rage had put out, she more than happily told Paresse. She knew exactly what she was doing, too. She had always known something was up about how the sloth doji worked, even as Michel. She had her suspicions about it. But for now, hearing Paresse laugh at hearing the wrath doji’s pitiful spite through song just made her feel a little better about having the lanky bastard as her doji.

Paresse mulled over the thought of that for a long while. He didn’t feel like it was worth it to retaliate. Hell, he knew that both of their fame was only temporary, it wouldn’t last forever. And Paresse had begun to just enjoy what he was doing, no need to retaliate. But more than a few of his fans had also picked up on Rage’s obvious spite. More than a few were in on the ‘conspiracy’ of the doji, who knew what Rage and Paresse were--or at least thought they did. They urged him to bite back. So finally, he opened a text window and wrote. Then sung, for the first time. It felt like a punch that had been waiting to happen for a long time. And truth be told, it was. And it shut Rage up, for the next meeting and every one after it.

**Author's Note:**

> This one feels really forced. I really don't like it. But I made myself do it cause I need to get back into the swing of writing. Maybe I'll re-write it one day. However, it does introduce the idea of my favorite theory/headcanon for Paresse. That he's not... quite actually 'Sloth'. It's something I know I'll be exploring in other one-shots down the road with different nuances and junk.


End file.
